As many of us know, senior Brion Whyte creates Soundcloud music with his partner in music, recently graduated Rasheed Conteh, class of 2018. The pair, who call themselves Astro and Apollo, created their first piece of music in the fall of 2017. They currently have six tracks on their public page on the online audio distribution platform Soundcloud.
Whyte began writing his own music to serve as an outlet for his emotions, since finding someone he could talk to whom he trusted proved to be difficult.
“I’ve kind of kept to myself a lot,” Whyte said, “so instead of holding it in, I put it into music.” Whyte has been writing music since he was 13 and says that he doesn’t subscribe to a specific genre of artistry.
“People always ask me am I a rapper and I’m like, ‘nah, I’m an artist,’ because I do a lot, because I try to please as many people as I can instead of restricting my music to one group.” Whyte likes to experiment with different types of music in his work and is inspired by multiple different artists in the music industry.
“I have a little bit of alternative rock in there and obviously rap, trying to go for J. Cole vibes, Big Sean vibes, Drake vibes,” Whyte said. Though none of these three rappers began their careers on Soundcloud, other famous ones, including XXXTentacion, Post Malone, and Travis Scott posted on Soundcloud in their early days.
Producing a piece of music on Soundcloud is not as easy as it would seem, as the recording process can take up to two hours in order to create the perfect sound Whyte strives to achieve.
When asked about his favorite track he has produced, Whyte’s answer was “The Ride”, posted to his Soundcloud page Astro and Apollo about five months ago.
“I wrote that song when I was in a weird emotional state,” he said, “People always ask me if it’s about anybody but I just wrote and that’s what came out.” Whyte considers it his most emotionally “real” piece, which is why it is his favorite.
“I do it for me, in the end if I like it, I’m dropping it.” Writing music serves as a necessary distraction from the stress of school and daily life to Whyte and is something he can put his whole self into.
“I guess,” Whyte said, “I’m my biggest inspiration.”
Whyte said that pursuing music is a definite possibility for his future. He believes that if people like his music now there is no reason to stop. Whyte hopes that both new and old listeners will continue to enjoy his music.
“I can’t just settle anymore,” Whyte said, “I need it to be perfect.”
Annie Rosenman ’21 and Ella Gillespie ’21